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A three-match National Premier Soccer League unbeaten streak came to an end as Boston City suffered a 5-2 defeat away to the Brooklyn Italians on Saturday night.

The Lions closed out a three-match road trip that had featured a win and a draw with their second loss of the season, despite mounting a late comeback and only trailing 3-2 with six minutes remaining. A penalty kick and the hat-trick goal of Brooklyn’s Rasmus Hansen put an end to any aspirations of returning home with at least a point.

Boston went behind after only five minutes when home captain Kareen Joachim beat Estive Sosa, making his debut in the visitors’ goal. Naeem Charles then struck the woodwork as Brooklyn threatened to pull ahead early on. Not until the 24th minute did the Lions truly trouble the home goal when Gabriel De Souza came agonizingly close to the equalizer as his shot when left unmarked at the far post at a free kick rolled across the face of goal and bounced to safety of the foot of the post.

That scoring chance sparked Boston City into life. Jadilson Vieira placed a downward header just wide and Yaw Addow forced home keeper Michael Bernadi to push away a powerful effort.

The deserved equalizer came eight minutes before the break, Jadilson curling a precise free kick over the wall and beyond the stranded keeper, adding a goal to the team-leading three assists he has provided this season.

Four minutes later though, Hansen capitalized on a hesitation in front of the Boston goal and sent the Italians in at the break with a 2-1 lead. To make matters worse, the influential Jadilson limped off injured.

Six minutes into the second half, Hanson buried his second goal and Brooklyn’s third and when Boston’s top scorer Addow was replaced due to injury, the 3-1 deficit appeared insurmountable. But eight minutes from time, substitute Michael Bustamante produced another stunning free kick that dipped over and over the wall and found the net off the inside of the post.

At 3-2 and with the momentum, a comeback and a rescued point on the road was suddenly a possibility until Joachim scored his second two minutes later from the penalty spot. He blasted his strike up the middle, beating Wanderson Macedo, who had replaced Sosa ten minutes earlier, while Rodrigo Teixeira earned a yellow card for the foul. To rub salt into the wound, Hansen’s hat-trick goal poached from close range made it 5-2 in the 86th minute.

Boston City FC returns home to host New York Athletic club at 5pm at Malden Catholic High School on May 28. Tickets are available from www.BostonCityFC.com.